Mary Alice Marie O'Neal

If you were lucky enough to meet Mary Alice Marie O’Neal during her life, you knew she had a deep love of music. From Motown to country to what she called the “gut-bucket blues,” music was her sustenance.

You knew she took great pride in proclaiming her love for the tiny town of Coffeyville, Kansas, the place where she was born and raised.

Family. It was the focal point of Mary’s – or Alice’s depending on how you knew her – unconditional love and devotion.

As her daughter, Tori, once said of her mom: “she would slay dragons for her kids. And grandkids. And great grandkids. All of her family really.”

Today that family of which she idolized is celebrating the life of Mary Alice Marie O’Neal, who passed away on July 30, 2024.

Mary was born on May 19, 1938, the youngest of five kids born to Amise and Addie (Lyle) Zollicoffee in Coffeyville, which is in Southeastern Kansas, just north of the Oklahoma border.

Regarding Coffeyville, Mary wouldn’t hesitate to tell you there was no place like home. But in the early 1960’s, she decided to move and join her older sister in Southern California; the place where she would eventually marry George O’Neal, Jr., expand their family, and travel the country as a United States Air Force family.

Mary was a woman of many talents.

She was an expert – and homegrown – seamstress. On her vintage black Singer sewing machine, Mary would work her magic. Sewing served as her love language with her two daughters who, for special events like proms and graduations, were often fitted with a hand-crafted “mom original.”

Mary was a singer. A talent that went beyond her strolling through the family home belting out “I’m Still In Love with You,” one of her personal favorites from Al Green. Mary could really hold a tune—she had “American Idol” type talent. And she passed that love of music to each of her kids from Halbert, who was inducted into the Tucson Musicians Hall of Fame in 2016, to Angela who was selected a member of the United States Air Force’s “Tops in Blues” entertainment showcase in the late 1980’s.

Mary was strikingly beautiful, and that was complemented by her being a bonafide “tomboy” and a fierce competitor who could take on the best there was in softball (fast pitch, of course) and bowling, and could take your money in a late night game of bid whist.

That love of competition served as a bond with her sons. One, Winnie, made a name for himself in boxing. Another, Dannie, was a two-time All-American long jumper at Arizona State University. When Dannie was inducted into the Pima County Sports Hall of Fame for track & field in 2015, Mary was in the audience for the occasion.

Beaming.

Mary is survived by four of her children, Angela Joyner, Hubert (Winnie) Jackson, Dannie Jackson and Tori O’Neal-McElrath; her brother, Sylvester Zollicoffee, who still resides in Zollicoffee; her grandchildren, Samuel Joyner, Jr., Aziza Jackson, LaTeela Joyner, Reece McElrath and Kyle McElrath; her great-grandchildren, Nayimb Joyner, Ayanna Joyner, Atianna Joyner and London Joyner; her first cousins, Mary Elizabeth Brown, Cobbie Cosper, Shirley Green, Percy Lyle, Gloria Martin, Sonia Parker, Hazel Ritchie, Clifford Slaughter, Maxine Swygart, and LaVonne Thomas; and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins. She was predeceased by her parents, Amise and Addie (Lyle) Zollicoffee; her siblings, Amise Zollicoffee, Jr., Frank Zollicoffee and Panisea Lewis; her husband of over 45 years, George O’Neal, Jr.; and her oldest son, Halbert Jackson.

With Mary, there was not a pretentious bone in her body. While she was not one to say the words, Mary loved hard through her actions.

If you were lucky enough to be in her presence, you were sure to feel the strength of the love she exuded. “Because of her, I am,” said Tori.